DUDLEY United boss Andy Mulligan says players must start taking their chances after slumping to a shock defeat.

Mulligan’s side suffered their first defeat of the campaign as they were beaten 3-0 by Wednesfield Town on Sunday.

Though United remain top of the West Midlands Premier, their lead has been cut to just three points with nearest challengers Solihull also having two games in hand.

Mulligan is refusing to panic but says his side must find their shooting boots in time for this weekend’s visit of bottom club Kingshurst.

He said: “I’m not going to say we have blown the league or anything dramatic like that.

“History tells us that every side who have won this league have lost two or three games along the way.

“There are going to be plenty more twists and turns to come and I think Solihull will slip up somewhere along the way.

“That said we must start taking our chances.”

Mulligan had predicted a very different game than the first encounter with Wednesfield earlier in the season, which Dudley won 11-1.

But even he was not expecting such a turnaround as United suffered their heaviest defeat of his tenure.

And it was certainly a tale of two strikers, as two punctured tires robbed United of top scorer Kayleigh Griffiths while Abiyola Riley bagged a hat-trick for the hosts.

Mulligan said: “Their girl was outstanding and she should probably be playing a couple of levels above.

“If we had her in our team I’d sit back and be pretty convinced we would win the league.

“We were losing 1-0 for a long time and I changed to a more attacking formation, we got hit on the break a couple of times late on.